Determination of amitraz and its metabolites residue in honey and beeswax after Apivar^® treatment in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

Abstract

A synthetic acaricide, amitraz is widely used to control Varroa destructor. Although it has the potential to kill mites in honey bee colonies, the residue of amitraz and its metabolites in honey products is still of concern. Here, we determined the residue levels of amitraz and its metabolites in honey and beeswax when colonies were treated with different doses of Apivar^® (1X = 2 strips, 5X = 10 strips, and 10X = 20 strips); the 1X dose corresponds to a normal label-rate hive treatment. The results demonstrated that no amitraz residues were detected in honey and wax after 42 days of application in all treated colonies. The amitraz metabolites, 2,4-dimethylphenylformamide (DMPF) and 2,4-dimethyaniline (DMA), were found in the samples at 28 days post treatment. The residue levels of these two metabolites in beeswax were higher than those in honey. DMA was only detected in beeswax, ranging between 111 and 177 µg kg⁻¹, when colonies were treated with 5X and 10X of Apivar^®. The DMPF residue levels ranged between 13.7 and 60.5 µg kg⁻¹in honey and 196–6,160 µg kg⁻¹in wax samples. The residue of amitraz metabolites found in honey bee products did not exceed the maximum residue limits (MRLs), even though high doses were applied in this study to produce worse case scenarios.

Keywords:

• acaricide
• amitraz
• metabolites
• residue
• honey
• beeswax

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the staff of USDA-ARS Bee Research laboratory and in particular, Nathan Rice, Victor Levi, Andrew Ulsamer and Barton Smith for help with the studies. Also thanks to Tom Steeger of the Environmental Protection Agency for assistance and design advice. Funding was provided in part by Project Apis m to complete the pesticide analysis phase of this research.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interest in relation to the study in this paper.